1. Field
This invention relates to systems, methods, and apparatus for booting servers and more particularly relates to systems, methods, and apparatus for booting servers from a shared storage system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Developing and improving servers continues to be a vital aspect of data communication systems. Two important aspects of server development and improvement include decreasing the physical size of servers and increasing server performance. One specific function relevant to server performance is server booting.
Currently available server boot approaches include storing boot data locally on a server. For example, FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a typical server boot system 100. The depicted system 100 includes one or more servers 110 with a boot drive 112, a switch fabric 120, and a storage system 130 with a raid controller 132, and a data storage drive 134. Booting the servers 110 includes accessing locally stored boot data 112. After the servers 110 are booted, the servers 110 may then communicate with the storage system 130 via the switch fabric 120 to perform post boot operations.
The boot drives 112 increase the necessary size of each server 110 as storing the boot drives 112 locally require additional server 110 space. Increasing the necessary size of the servers 110 is especially problematic in systems with a large number of servers 110 or server blades. As the number of servers 110 in a system increases, so does the benefit of figuring out how to reduce the physical size of each server.
From the foregoing discussion, it should be apparent that a need exists for a system, apparatus, and method for reducing the necessary server size. Beneficially, such a system, apparatus and method would substantially decrease the size of each server and improve the overall computing enterprise.